Northern outer suburbs of Boston - the Bermuda rectangle of cycling
Originally Posted by
autonomy
I was browsing the Strava heat map and this black hole caught my attention:
Here it is a bit zoomed in and compared to Google maps at approximately the same zoom level:...
What's up with that? Why are Billerica, Burlington, Wilmington, and Tewksbury so relatively unpopular with cyclists? There must be some cyclists at least originating their trips there...
That’s a very interesting observation. I live in downtown Boston (Kenmore Square), and most of my cycling is south and west of the city.
I have previously posted a personal so-called “
Cyclists’ Guide to Metro Boston,” that partitions the region into sectors radiating from downtown, As an independent correlation with your map, I have described that Northern sector with the adjacent ones as:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
... I think of the area in sectors radiating from downtown and surrounded by a circumferential belt about 10 to 15 miles from Downtown, known as Route 128 ("America's Technology Highway")...
Even though I've lived here for over 30 years, I always get lost on a new ride. Streets are laid out in a haphazard fashion; many streets, particularly the one you are riding on are not marked; they surreptiously change names; and in rotary intersections it's easy to lose your sense of direction...
I would describe the sectors as (mostly for road riding outside of Rte 128):
North Shore: Beautiful Atlantic coastline, especially north of Lynn, to include Nahant, Marblehead and Marblehead Neck, on through Salem, Beverly and into ritzy Beverly Farms, and up to seafaring Gloucester, Rockport, Ipswich, etc.
Northern Suburbs: Lynnfield, Reading, Wilmington, Woburn, down through Winchester, etc: Pleasant suburban to rural inland roads.
Western: Lincoln, Lexington, Concord, Wayland, etc: Very ritzy, buccolic and historic; very popular for riding. This area IMO has the steepest hills....
On my rides up there (without Strava) my usual routes are along Rte 3A, or 38, and are pleasant up until about I-95, and then become rather non-descript. I've been through Billerica a few times, and once up to Lowell.
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
...In the past three weeks [in 2009], I've done two rides in your area from Boston: up Rte 28 to Methuen and along the Merrimac to Lowell, then on to Chelmsford, south to Rte 27, to Rte 20 and back to Boston; and out Rte 38 to Tewksbury and 3A back to Boston.
I got lost trying to get to 3A on Pleasant Street in Tewksbury, but I did ride on some nice backroads.
I do like riding
across the sector along Rte 62, and along the sector on Washington Street through Woburn (at the southern edge of that sector) into Winchester.
Indeed though, maybe that sector is paranormal, kind of like Wonderland (as Alice in Wonderland) as your title suggests. For example, @
jimmuller who commutes to Woburn. Has posted:
Originally Posted by
jimmuller
I've wanted a picture of this sign ever since I saw it. I go through this intersection twice a day.
Welcome to Woburn. I don't know where I'm going but I know where I am.
In fact, a few years ago I tried to trace his route on an expedition from Kenmore, I described that ride as:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
My Magical (and Musical) Mystery Tour, Saturday, August 23
So this Saturday, I decided to find that [route]... I left in jmm’s full description because it was an accurate detail of that road, though I rode it in the opposite direction as written.
I have recently been thinking about riding the Fellsway; not been on it since July last year.
So that would be the route to “Jim's Road…”
Originally Posted by
jimmuller
JFB, nice travelogue! …
I'm honored that you were inspired by my post to find Pleasant/Lexington/Woburn St. Also fascinated how you (and others in this thread) can ride around to places seemingly impossible to reach at all.
Some of those roads you mentioned I have noted on a map, but never ridden because they don't quite go where I need to.
